Kaepernick has excelled in his first three pro seasons, winning 17 of his 23 starts while sporting a 93.8 passer rating. He is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible to negotiate a new deal this offseason.

“Amazing individual. Amazing player,” Harbaugh said. “He shows up and works all the time. There’s really nobody to compete with him in a workout situation. He will bury everybody. And then when somebody tries to compete with him, he just ramps his competitiveness up and somebody’s over there on a knee throwing up.

“He’s unbelievable. As you can tell, I think he’s a special and great player. So it’s a high priority.”

During his chat with reporters, Harbaugh also explained why the 49ers didn’t consider drafting Blaine Gabbert, whom the club acquired via trade on March 11, with its first-round pick in the 2011 draft.

"Another really good player, and where he was picked in the draft was evidence of that,” Harbaugh said. “Really we personally made that promise to Alex Smith that we weren't going draft a quarterback at No. 7.”

San Francisco's brass employed that pick on linebacker Aldon Smith, Gabbert's Missouri teammate, before trading up to get Kaepernick in the second round.